Another day, another...deck?

Well, it is Saturday and I suppose I have nothing better to do than to sit at the Mockingbird Coffee House and blog.

I had a successful week out on the site! We're still working at the same house as last week. This week I had thirty volunteers total, only ten of which were I directly responsible for. It was a small group from William and Mary college. Two of the student had been interns on staff here at Lagniappe during previous summers. I was good to have them with me because the rest of the team had little to no experience. Nonetheless, we hung drywall on Monday because the finishers were coming in to work on Tuesday. Lagniappe found it is cheaper and easier to sub-contract out the drywall finishing than it is to do the work with volunteers. I'm pretty thankful for this because in Pearlington, when a house was ready to be finished, it was a three week job, nearly fifty buckets of mud were used, and the jobs were never finished very well. More than once I just got tired of three weeks of sanding to just remove the globs of first-coat that was put on by inexperienced volunteers and would just have them paint it as it was.

Back to Lagniappe.

Tuesday we jumped in on deck building. Unfortunately Tuesday was difficult because it turned into the team watching me as I cut and hung stringers for the stairs, and got posts cut off the right height. Some jobs it is just better if I do them then try to teach someone else how to do them.

Wednesday I lost all my volunteers to another project. They were taken to another site and started building a house there. The neat part of this project is that it is a house that we took down this summer. Piece by piece, it was taken apart, labeled, categorized, and move to another site. Once at the new site, every part of the house was gone through, all the rot was replaced - and on Wednesday this team worked with a local contractor to start rebuilding this house under the shade of a huge live oak down near the water. I think it is a pretty great project because the homeowners were willing to spend the money to maintain and restore a little piece of the history that is Bay Saint Louis.

Wednesday night the team took me to New Orleans. We went to dinner at a local BBQ shop (I wished they had asked me where to go. Then maybe we could have eaten somewhere that the food is actually good). Once in New Orleans, we went to an old German bar on Bourbon St. It was a fun environment, the music was alright, and a Sprite cost me $5. We didn't get in until late and I was exhausted the next day for sure!

Thursday and Friday were pretty uneventful. I think Moose was having a bad day both days, because she was being a real bitch. Nearly every time that I would call her or tell her to do something, she would just sit or lay down and watch me. It is pretty frustrating when she does that. Especially when she's stopping traffic because she decides to have her defiant moments in the middle of the road. Oh well, I forgive her.

Overall, it was a pretty good week. Some bumps in the road but nothing worth writing about.

Ok, funny story just happened. Right now.

I'm over at the Mockingbird Cafe, drinking coffee. I may or may not have passed gas a few minutes ago (I'm claiming nothing) but magically, there was suddenly a very ripe stench that appeared around me. Well, just moments after the owner of the coffee shop came in and walked over behind me and reached over my shoulder to remove a poster that is on the wall next to my table. My favorite part of this is that I have a picture hanging on the wall in front of me in which I can see my reflection along with the things going on behind me (for those of you who want to be international spies, you understand how important spotting your perifs are). Well, she hovered over me for a second, made this contorted face of disgused, reached up and held her nose while she was removing the poster off the wall. Also, she may or may not have thrown up in her mouth. I would have missed the entire show if it had not been for the picture on the wall. As a result, I feel the need to give a shout out to CSW Photography. Thanks for trying to sell your pictures here at the Bird.

And I apologize to those of you who did not find humor in that story at all. I know Janice did, so Janice. That one's for you.

Tomorrow I'm leading worship at the Church. our normal worship leader is off on some unspeakable adventure and which makes it my duty to fill in. I'm excited. I think we have a good set and we certainly have a great group of musicians. After church I have a birthday party at the local bowling ally for a five year old who's house I helped build in Pearlington. I'm looking forward to that - I think it will be a really great time! I love that this job gives me the chance to be a part of people's lives in such a personal way. Each house, each family, and even each day just gives me the chance to live the gospel toward others. I've learned a lot about how to love people. Yet there is so much more to learn!

As always, thanks for your support and prayers. Please continue to pray for this area, and I could personally use prayer for my personal finances. I love what I'm doing but it does not pay much and with the pressure of school loans, the cost of the road trip home for Christmas, and just the everyday expenses of living in this country - money is always extremely tight. So pray that I either win the lottery (after Mississippi starts having a lottery that is...) or that I can just continue to learn how to trust the Lord that He knows how many hairs are on my head and is able meet me and take care of me where I am. Empty wallet and all.

Until next time. Peace!